Jim Ittenbach's Musician Page

Jim Ittenbach's love of
music was visible at an early age. By the time he was four years old he was drawn to the power ofRussian classical composers such asPetr Il'ich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893),Modest Petrovich
Mussorgsky (1839-1881) andNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908).
Evidence of this love of music was quite visible in the record collection of his father, which was worn out on
Jim's personal record player bought with S&H Green Stamps. He even saved up a quarter and several box tops
from Puffed Wheat cereal to get his very own copy ofTchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. No doubt
these composers were the reason Jim developed akeen
sense and appreciation of botharrangement and dynamics. His father's record
collection also includedJohn Phillip
Sousa (1854-1932), which presented this toddler with
exposure to music with astrong beat. There is little wonder why his love for rock music would later emerge.

His first exposure to more contemporary music occurred when on a whim he bout
a45 rpmLouis Prima record calledWhistle Stop
Blow. This record as worn out as well. As he grew up he
would spend his money on various records but he had not really begun to identify with any
particulargenre of music. Jim's
innate desire to do the unexpected led him to chose theflute to play in his elementary school band.
He really had no reason in choosing this instrument other than it was different. Thisodd character trait showed itself
when his parents wanted to bribe him to get on the honor roll, so they said he could have whatever he wanted if he
did it. Leafing through a copy ofField and
Stream magazine he noticed an ad for babyraccoons. The strategy
paid off and he was soon the proud owner of raccoon namedRodriguez J. Racquet. All the more odd
because it was a female, but that's Jim for you.

Jim continued to playflute in his school bands until he reached
high school when he wasbooted out for spontaneously standing up and applauding when the bell rang to end the last day of band
class. Although the normal band director found it humorous, a new band director took exception and decided he needed to
make a statement on who was in control. Jim was pulled into the band directors office andpushed into a wall. the new band
director told him "Before you think about joining my band next year you better straighten out". Being
frightened by this act of aggression from an adult Jim responded in his usually way and told the new band
director "Before I report this to the principal you better take your hand off of me". They parted ways
and Jim never opted to join the advanced band. Although he did continue to take lessons the school offer, this
was more of an excuse to get out of a class every week than anything else.

During the next couple of years Jim took ahiatus from playing music. However, this was also
the time when curiosity forcontemporary
music began to grow. He received a copy ofEric Burden Declares War, which had someawesome
flute work onSpill the Wine. He also bought his first
three real rock records.Credence Clearwater Revival's Cosmo's
Factory andLed Zeppelin I andII. He felt a deep sense
of remorse whenJimi Hendrix died, even though he was not that familiar with his music, yet. Maybe it was
thecoarse headlines that read "Acid King
Dies" but Jim felt adistinct spiritual connection withJimi
Hendrix from that point on. In fact, later on
Jim sometimes called himselfJim
I, which is a tribute toJimi Hendrix. needless to sayJimi Hendrix records
were soon in his collection. Soon after that Jim heardJethro Tull's Locomotive Breath on
the radio and he immediately thought "...if I could playflute like that it might be worth
picking it back up again". More on that to come.

The year Jim graduated from high school spawned themetamorphosis of Jim as a musician. After
partaking in a few adult beverages Jim noticed hisflute which hadlaid dormant for the last couple of year and he
wondered "...can I still make any sounds out of this thing?". Well we aren't saying they weregood sounds but he could make
some noises. This provoked him to want to play again. Over the course of that summer he also bought his first
real guitar, a 1974 Fender Stratocaster, which he still owns. His friend Gary "The Roach" Shotroff lent Jim his
copy ofJethro Tull's Living in the
Past album. Oddly enough Jim was able to play many of
the song's hook lines within a week. The dominos were indeed falling into place. Jim decided to tryout
forPeabody Institute's Prep
Department in an effort to quickly rehone his chops. The
classical music influence in his life made this the obvious choice for this effort. He passed the audition
and was admitted. Although Jim, being Jim, conquered somepentatonic andblues scales so he
could show up early for his private lessons and ad lib on those scales just to provoke theclassical musicians there.
He used to get a big thrill when some old lady would peer in the window to see who wasabusing theflute that way (and no, he never
went to band camp:-). This actually lasted for several years as Jim's love of music drove him to learn as
much music theory as he could. His appetite for knowledge was insatiable and later led to many college
credits. The theory classes atPeabody's Prep
Department were not enough. He began
taking private theory classes with his theory teacher and delved into topics likeSchoenberg's Twelve Tone System and what aNeapolitan sixth
chord is.

In order to fund his renewed obsession with music Jim obtained a job at aGeneral Motors assembly line inBaltimore. This was another
introduction in life lessons to him, a suburban kid with reallylong
hair working side by side with some ofBaltimore's finest rednecks. A day after he completed his 90 day job probationary period he quickly
gained hiscohorts respect when he verbally blasted a supervisor who had been taking advantage of him during that
time period. Luckily God smiled down on Jim and a Line Manager, who had seen how hard Jim had been working saw
this happened and told the supervisor he need to make things right with Jim. Jim became anofficial member of a group of
people know as theMinute Men, who knew exactly how long it would take to comfortably walk from their cars, up the ramp
to the factory, across the factory and be at their post right when the line started. Much to the chagrin
of their supervisor. One of the other members,George
Hess recently became aTroubled Spirit fan as a result of
aFacebook connection,
go figure. The adventures at GM could be a whole other page. Suffice it to say that this job was important
because it funded the PA system Jim used in hisItt-N-Rock sound system company. Two
years later it also helped him purchase hisGuild
D-45 acoustic guitar, which is one of his favorite song writing
tools and prominently feature atTroubled
Spirit shows.

Over the next few years Jim was a member of, or put together several bands.Greg Stallings Aluminum Apple was an interesting band thatplayed
originals. The only covers allowed wereJimi Hendrix songs.
They only played parties, but every week at practice amotley crew
of bikers who enjoyed the music showed up with beer.
There was a tradition with that band or trying to find the weirdest beer possible. If that brand was never
brought over before, the side of the six pack was cut out and posted on the Wall of Beer. Since their biker friends knew we
liked imported beer, they always showed up with plenty for everyone, there was little incentive to carry all
that equipment any where with that type of deal.

Jim's first bands he put together includedThe Midnight Riders andThe Reactors. This is when
Jim met his long time friendMike
Bearry. Mike was also one of the first people went into
arecording studio with, when they recorded the initial versions ofDreams andGimme an Answer. Jim's talents as an
entertainer quickly became evident; however, Jim did not realize his days of playing in bands would
besidetracked for a
little while after his first marriage. Although he continued to write, life requirements proved to not be
conducive to being in an actual band. To remain in the mix he continued torun sound and would put togethervarious side projects to do recordings where ever he could get recording time. The lessons learned
would prove very valuable later. He learned how toquickly prepare a group of musicians
torecord a project, how
long the process takes (which is always longer think you think it will be) and unfortunately a lot about what
not to do as an engineer. This served as themotivating
factor for Jim to learn how to do theengineering himself. This is
when he decided to attend a couple of theRIAA recording
classes atSheffield Studios outside ofBaltimore. His instructor
wasBill Mueller (another Facebook friend). Bill's soon to be wife's band, The Joann Dodds band was the
band used to record and mix. Jim wasaddicted to this process after this. He
creditsBill Mueller's conveying off his knowledge to Jim as being a big turning point in his life.Face Dancer was
setup in the studio to do their preproduction work before they headed to California to record their This
World album.

Then next phase of Jim's musical career would occur when a mutual friend,Mark Hansen introduced Jim
toRob Martin. Several
rough recordings of some very interesting songs came from this collaboration which they calledOf Two Minds. They had the
unique ability to compliment each other instrumentally on the fly. They were also a little nuts and came up with
songs like theBud Light
Song. At anAmerican University recording studio
they recorded the first versions ofCoast to
Coast,Loser,
Loser,Treasure and theBud Light Song using
Rob's band,Hot Ice. Soon after this Rob joinedEdge
City, who was already making waves on the local music
stationWHFS. Jim
assisted with their preproduction for their EP,By The
Water. Using very creative mic placing to basically domanual mixing, Jim was able
toclearly capture the arrangement and
balances used to take Steve Carr's Hit and Run Studios. Jim was
taken into the studio as a neutral set of ears to listen for performance issues.Steve Carr paid Jim a high compliment
when he said "You are hearing all the same things I am", with regard to identifying small performance flaws.
Although Jim had training from theRIAA courses he had very little
experience in a studio, other than his throw together projects. This was his first step towards assisting
withproduction of
someone else's project. Steve's comment reminded Jim of the time he was behind the board forEdge City atBaltimore's 8X10 club. The house sound man told Jim "Man I have been watching you and you break almost
every rule in the book, but it sounds great". Jim just smiled and said "My best tool is my ears and I
trust them". This held true forEdge
City'sHit and Run sessions as
well.

Around the same timeRob
Martin introduced Jim toPaul Weager. They soon went into Paul'sNye Timber Studios and
recorded a few more songs. Jim found himself occasionally assisting as an engineer atNye Timber Studios. He
was credited on several projects there including an album by one of the world'stop tenbagpipe bands, theScottish and Irish Imports Band. They were preparing for a competition inScotland.

Not long after that Jim joined forces withRay Bugnosen and they decided to form a band.
This is when Jim and Ray joined up withMark
Matthews,Darryl
Freeman (still a current member) andJimmy Buter fromTroubled
Spirit. The long history behind that band can be found on
theTroubled Spirit page. Needless to say Jim has not and will not slow down in his pursuit of themusical adventures that are his life.